Lots of traditional charming country pubs around the area, but it can a bit hit and miss. A really friendly one with amazing food (and a unusually large veggie selection…) is the Beehive in Epping Green; close to the Great Wood. It's friendly enough you dare going there by yourself with the paper and are not at the mercy of local rubbernecks ("the rubberneck" = person who stares at strangers without any sign of guilt)

A fermenting kitchen and restaurant. Seasonal ferments, pickles and home-made fermented drinks. My new favourite place to eat.

Small restaurant on Highbury Corner that started off focusing on (basically) posh kebabs, but which is now producing some of London's most innovative dishes, focused around unconventional meats, cuts, and breads. Not often you can eat incredible food while listening to heavy rock and metal, but Lee Tiernan has nailed a winning formula.

Set amongst one of my favourite housing estates in London – the Brunswick, Renoir cinema shows art-house films in it's two small but comfortable screens. I come here at least twice a month, and always on my own.

The second coffee shop has to be Kaffeine. Having only recently come across this one, I was certainly impressed and they may even have the best coffee I've had, since a short stay in Portland, Oregon.